Stevonnie entered the beachside home, only to find it empty of any other people. They laid down the bag filled with Steven and Connie's clothes next to the door and then placed their new dinosaur friend on the coffee table by the couch. With the spoils of their day now settled, they glanced around their surroundings, confirming that no one else was in the house. But they could have sworn they heard the Gems talking a minute ago. Stevonnie moved further into the house as they peeked around every bit of furniture looking for the Gems. But there were no Gems in the kitchen. No Gems up in Steven's loft. Not even a tiny shape-shifted Amethyst hiding underneath the coffee table, as she was want to do whenever she wanted to play tricks on one of her fellow Gems. There seemed to be no one here, yet Stevonnie knew they had heard someone talking. The fusion stroked their chin as they tried to think where else the Gems could be hiding. Their eyes drew themselves over the house until they came to rest on the begemmed door that marked where Steven's house ended and the Crystal Temple began.

"That's where they went!" Stevonnie exclaimed as they ran over to the door. Upon arriving at it, they remembered that they couldn't open the door to any of the other Gems rooms. This thought in mind, they rapped their knuckles against the door, however, they immediately regretted the decision as the stone door did not relent to their tender hand. As they held their hurting hand, they were beginning to consider other options when the purple gem on the door began to glow. And then, starting at said gem, two wavy, violet lines drew themselves into either corner of the door diagonally. The lines glow intensified before the two halves of the door receded from each other and into the wall.

Stevonnie peered into the inky blackness beyond the doorway when they got a split-second view of a purple blur rushing towards them, and then colliding into them. The impact caused Stevonnie to fall backward onto their behind while their assailant rubbed her face in pain.

"Ow! Why don't you watch where you're going Pearl-" Amethyst cried out, only to stop when they saw that it wasn't who she thought it was. "Oh! Stevonnie. Sorry about that. I was kinda in a rush." She rushed over Stevonnie's side and helped them up.

"Yeah, I noticed." Stevonnie replied as they dusted off the back of their pants. "Why are you in such a rush?"

"Snacks." Amethyst said simply as she grinned broadly. "Garnet and Peridot are in my room messing with the pyramid, but it was starting to get a little dull so I had to get something to munch on." Amethyst made her way over to the kitchen with Stevonnie following behind.

"The pyramid's here?" Stevonnie asked. "Why?"

Amethyst open the refrigerator and began to dig around in it. "Cause it's easier to for Peridot to tinker with it here than having to take a warp pad to the storage room it was in." Amethyst closed the fridge empty handed, a disappointed look on her face. She made her way over to the cabinets that hung above the counter.

"Okay." Stevonnie responded. "Well, then why is Peridot 'tinkering' with it. We already know it works."

"Yeah, but Peri seems to think that she can use the pyramid to split you apart. Something about reversing the polarity or- Ah, sweet!" Amethyst cut herself off as she exclaimed her excitement. The Gem removed herself from the cabinet and in her hands were ten to twelve of the white frosting packets that came with the toastable pastries that Steven liked to have for breakfast from time to time. "Oh, man. I thought I'd eaten all of these already." She licked her lips in anticipation as she greedily tore open one of the packets and drained its contents into her agape mouth. With one down, she wiped some wayward frosting from the corners of her mouth and asked Stevonnie, "You want one?"

"Uh, no thanks." Stevonnie said. "I already ate." In truth, Stevonnie had started to feel a little peckish, however, seeing Amethyst eat enough processed sugar to kill an average sized kid, killed whatever appetite they had. Trying not to look at the white goo that was being squeezed into Amethyst's mouth, Stevonnie asked, "So why is the pyramid in your room?"

Amethyst placed on the counter another emptied packet as she answered, "Well, there's just so much stuff in my room, right? And we thought, 'Hey if Peridot needs any parts, or whatever, she can probably find them'-" Amethyst stopped suddenly as her eyes widened. "Oh, man." She moaned as she placed her frosting packets on the counter. "I completely forgot… Here, Stevonnie. Come over here." Without even waiting for them to answer, Amethyst grabbed Stevonnie by the wrist and lead them over to the couch. Amethyst then sat down on one of the seats while patting the seat next to her. "Come on. Sit down."

"Uh, Amethyst, what's going on exact-"

"Just sit down." Without another word, Stevonnie did as they were told and sat down next to Amethyst. "Okay." Amethyst said as if she were mentally reviewing a prepared script. "How was your day, Stevonnie?"

The fusion blinked with confusion. "My day? All this was just to ask me about my day?"

"Well, I mean… Yeah?" Amethyst said unassuredly. "Garnet left Pearl and me instructions, that when you came home, we needed to ask you about your day."

"I see." Stevonnie said slowly. "I'm happy to tell you about my day, Amethyst. But why the specific instructions?"

Amethyst blushed slightly as she looked down at the floor. "It's just that… we've been worried about you today, Stevonnie. Essspecily Garnet. She's been in a tizzy ever since the accident."

"'A tizzy?' Are we talking about the same Garnet here?"

"Heh, yeah it can be hard to tell sometimes, but she does have her moments." Amethyst said. "I mean, if Ruby and Sapphire disagree enough, or whatever, they'll diffuse. But Garnet hasn't shown any sign of defusing, which mean the whole G-Squad is worried about you." She looked back up towards Stevonnie. "And just for the record, if someone who can see the future is worried about you, that's usually not a good sign."

Stevonnie scooted over closer to their friend and put an arm around her shoulders. "I appreciate the thought, Amethyst, But you guys don't need to worry about me. I feel great! In fact, I've felt great all day." Amethyst still looked despondent, so Stevonnie continued, "And besides, you said Peridot was working on making the pyramid diffuse me, right? Well, if anyone can do that, it's definitely Peridot, okay?"

Amethyst nodded as she wiped the corners of her eyes. "Alright." She looked over at Stevonnie with an earnest grin. "Why don't we put away the serious stuff for now?"

Stevonnie returned her grin with one of their own. "Agreed."


"So I wanted to thank him for the roll of quarters again before I left, right? And I found him at the skee ball table with a huge bundle of tickets at his feet."

"Tickets? Tickets for what?"

"Oh, right. Well, you can win tickets from some of the games at the arcade. And if you get enough, you can trade them in for a prize."

"What prize did Lars get then?"

"You're looking at it. He ran off for a moment and then came back with this blue dinosaur in his arms."

"Ohh… I wondered if that had always been there or not."

"But the real shocker was when he just handed it to me and said he wanted me to have it."

"Really? Man, if I won a prize, I'd keep that sucker. Why'd he give it to you?"

"I… don't really know. Maybe Steven's right and Lars is just nicer than he seems."

Before the pair could continue their conversation, the door to the house swung open and through it walked in their fellow Crystal Gem, Pearl.

"Hi, Pearl." Stevonnie greeted as they turned in their seat to face her.

"Why, hello Stevonnie." Pearl returned perkily. "How has your day been?"

Stevonnie chuckled as they answered. "There's no need for that, Pearl. Amethyst has it covered."

"Hmm? I'm not sure what you mean." Pearl lied poorly. "I'm just asking about your day."

Amethyst and Stevonnie both elbowed each other and giggled to themselves as Stevonnie said, "Alright, Pearl. If you say so. And, to answer your question, today's been great. I had some donuts, got a new outfit, and had some fun at Funland Arcade."

"Well, that's nice." Pearl responded. "Though… where did that come from?" She pointed at the stuffed dinosaur on the coffee table.

"Lars won it for them." Amethyst answered before Stevonnie could.

"Ohh… that's nice…. Uh, which one is Lars again?" Pearl asked.

"Tall, lanky guy with giant holes in his earlobes."

"Really?" Amethyst questioned. "I thought we were talking about the short, light-haired person."

Stevonnie shook their head. "No, that's Sadie."

Pearl sighed while shaking her head. "I swear, humans can be hard to tell apart sometimes."

"And I'm sure they wouldn't be saying similar things if they met a bunch of Gems." Stevonnie replied snarkily as they moved over on the couch, so as to open up a seat between themselves and Amethyst. "My turn now. How was your day, Pearl?"

"Busy." Pearl said, taking the offered seat. "I've spent most of the day back in the archival room, looking through its databanks to see if there's any information about the pyramid that could help us in our current predicament."

"And was there?" Stevonnie asked.

"Not that I saw." Pearl responded. "The only real thing of interest was the documented history of the device, which serves as a good example of Homeworlds views on fusion."

"What do you mean?" Stevonnie asked.

Well," Pearl began to explain, "According to the databanks records, the pyramid was made in the last days of the Rebellion. Apparently, the best minds on Homeworld were scrambling, trying to come up with something to stem Rose's advance." Pearl looked more than a little proud as she said the last part.

"So… Homeworlds big idea was to make fusions who can't ever diffuse?" Amethyst asked sarcastically.

"In a sense." Pearl responded. "According to the notes on the databank, the program was in its early stages and the pyramid was the only fruit it ever bore. They were trying to create stronger fusions and they thought the restricting diffusion might be the answer." She shook her head, a look of pity in her eyes. "Like I said, it's a very 'Homeworld' outlook on fusion. Trying to use a machine for what should come naturally."

"Geeze, Pearl." Amethyst cringed. "When you say it like that, it sounds really weird."

"Hence, why Homeworld has never really understood fusion."

This didn't come from Pearl, instead coming from the large, red leader of the Gems, Garnet as she walked through the temple's door, with Peridot following closely behind her.

"Hey, Garnet." Stevonnie greeted.

"Hello again, Stevonnie." Garnet returned. She then turned her head to look at the small green Gem behind her. "Say hello, Peridot." she instructed as she pushed the nervous Gem out from behind her.

Peridot looked extremely uncomfortable as she was pushed to the forefront. And the uncomfortableness only seemed to increase once Stevonnie looked at her. "Ah, h-hello, Steve- I mean, Stevonnie." she stuttered.

Stevonnie only smiled warmly and replied, "Hello to you too, Peridot. It's good to meet you."

The green Gem's cheeks shone brightly.

"Hey, Peri." Amethyst chimed in. "Why don't you tell us about the progress you've made with the pyramid."

"Oh, yes. I can do that." Peridot replied, her voice growing in confidence as she switched to a topic she was more comfortable with. "Because it's relatively old tech, I've made significant progress with reverse-engineering the pyramid machine. I have also been fortunate that most of the parts I've needed to replace or change outright have been able to be found in Amethyst's room."

"That's a minor miracle itself." Pearl fake-whispered under her breath.

"Hey!" Amethyst cried. "I told you, I have a system."

"So, when do you think the pyramid will be ready?" Stevonnie asked, ignoring Pearl and Amethyst.

"Shortly." Peridot replied. "It just needs a few more tweaks and I believe it will be ready to operate."

"Wow, Peridot." Stevonnie marveled. "That's incredible."

"What can I say?" Peridot shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm really good at what I do."

"I'll say." Stevonnie said happily. "Without your help, Peridot, this would have been a lot harder to do. So, thanks for that."

Peridot stammered as her face began to glow again. "Wow, thanks…" she shuffled her feat in silence before saying, "I-I need to get back to work, so…" She began walking back towards the temple's door before she had even finished. Once she reached the door, however, she just stood there, silently fuming.

"Here, I gotcha, Peridot." Amethyst said as she rose from her seat and rushed over to Peridot. Once next to her, Amethyst shone the light of her gem onto the door, which then drew the familiar purple lines across it as it opened. Peridot quickly hustled through the open doorway and Amethyst turned on her heel and said, "I'll go on ahead with her, so she doesn't get lost on her way to the pyramid. Again." She smirked as she about-faced and followed after Peridot. However, unlike before, the door remained open.

"Well." Pearl said after a fashion. "She handled that better than I thought."

"Agreed." Garnet replied simply.

"Who, Peridot?" Stevonnie asked.

"Oh, yes." Pearl said. "This was all a new experience for her, and I think she handled it very well, all things considered."

"Handled what, exactly? Messing with the pyramid?"

"Meeting a fusion between two people she's already met." Garnet corrected. "She's met me, yes, but she's never met Ruby and Sapphire. Likewise, she's met Connie and Steven, but she had never met you, before now."

"Huh." Stevonnie said. "I guess you're right. Peridot is pretty inexperienced with fusion. I can see how meeting me would make her kinda nervous."

"You should have seen her after the incident in the archival room." Pearl chuckled. "After we told her who you were, she immediately had all kinds of questions about the intracity's of fusion. All directed at Garnet, of course."

Stevonnie grinned as she looked towards Garnet, who returned their grin with one of her own. "Of course." they said.

"But the questions are a good sign." Garnet picked-up. "Unlike the Gems who made the pyramid, Peridot is willing to learn about fusion."

Pearl nodded. "That's right. I must admit, I never really thought I would see the day when a Homeworld Gem-"

"Former-Homeworld Gem." Stevonnie corrected.

"-Former-Homeworld Gem is trying to learn about fusion."

"It does the spirit well." Garnet concurred.

Stevonnie was about to add something when Amethyst poked her head out of the temple doorway. "Hey uh, Pearl?" she asked carefully. "We kinda need your help in here. I can't find any of the parts we scavenged up."

"Amethyst…" Pearl chided as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "I had all the piles individually labeled."

"Yeah, I know." the purple Gem grinned embarrassedly. "But I kinda ran through them… Once… Or twice."

Pearl gave no vocal response, only rising from her seat as she marched over to the doorway while giving Amethyst a look that would kill lesser Gems. They both went through, the door again remaining open behind them.

There was a beat of silence before Garnet spoke, "That's the third time today Pearl is having to reorganize those piles of scavenged parts." She took her seat, not on the couch, but back on the coffee table. "I swear, it seems like sometimes, Amethyst's room is designed to remove all order in anything that enters it."

"I dunno." Stevonnie replied, grinning. "Pearl seems unaffected by it."

"Well, even a room as powerful Amethyst's would have its limits."

The two laughed together, and after they had settled, a comfortable silence hung in the air.

"So how was your day, Stevonnie?" Garnet asked finally.

"You're the third person to ask me that since I got home." Stevonnie replied.

Garnet smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, was it that obvious?"

"Amethyst filled me in. Apparently I've been a main topic of conversation today."

"You could say that." Garnet sighed. She was silent as she bent over in her seat and seemed to focus on her folded hands. For awhile no one spoke, but then Garnet, barely above a whisper, spoke. "I'm sorry, Stevonnie. This is my fault."

"Your fault?" Stevonnie asked, feeling genuine confusion, "How could this possibly be your fault?" Before she answered, Stevonnie heard the sound of a single tear hit the wooden floor.

"In the archival room." Garnet spoke, slowly and deliberately. "When Steven and Connie were knocked into the pyramid, they called out for me to let them out. And… I didn't." She looked up from her hands and Stevonnie could see the trail that the tear had drawn across the Gems face. "In that moment, my future vision showed me all the terrible punishments the Blue Beetle could inflict upon them and… I decided it was safest to leave them in the pyramid…" She now turned fully towards Stevonnie. "I… was only doing what I thought was best for them."

"That sounds familiar." Stevonnie said neutrally.

"Yes, it does." Garnet replied. "I didn't have enough faith in them, just like the three of us didn't have enough faith in them to bring them on a real mission. And because of that…" She trailed off, as if what she was about to say was too painful for her to bear.

"Garnet," Stevonnie began. "I… you can't compare this with… the lie about the mission. The Beetle was a threat and you assessed the situation, using all the tools available to you, and then you made a snap decision." Garnet didn't react to what they were saying, so they reached out and took her hands into theirs. They held them tight, feeling her gems in the palm of their own hands, as they continued, "You acted in the manner that you thought would keep Steven and Connie safe. There's no shame in that."

"It's not just that." Garnet said quietly. "…I was… so elated when I met you, Stevonnie. I had seen Steven and Connie growing closer, but it saddened me that they would never be able to fuse. Never be able to share that experience." She wore a sad smile as a new tear trail rolled from under her shades. "But then you came through the door and I knew immediately who you were. It… made me so happy to meet you." She looked away from them. "But now, after all this? After being forced to fuse together, I shutter to think about how they must feel about fusion now."

Stevonnie squeezed the hands of their friend as they spoke. "You don't need to. You asked me after I woke up, how I felt. And that amazing feeling hasn't ebbed at all. I still feel like, no matter what action I take, there's someone right next to me, helping me along. I feel like, even when I'm just walking down the sidewalk, there's someone with me and we're just enjoying each others company." Garnet looked back at them, her mouth twisted into a sad grimace. "I feel like… no matter what happens, I can handle what comes next, because I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I am not alone."

Garnet smiled with a strange mixture of happiness, sadness, and pride. "I couldn't have said it better myself." She freed one of her hands from Stevonnie's grasp and cupped their cheek. "Fusion is important. I don't want this to ruin it for you."

"Ruin it? Did you see the dinosaur next to you?"

They both laughed, as the melancholy drained from the room.


As Stevonnie followed Garnet in and around the piles of… stuff that Amethyst stored in her room, they had to wonder what exactly her "system" was, and if it was true when she claimed it allowed her to know where and what everything is. Still, despite that, Stevonnie had to admit the room had a nice look to it. Everything was tinted purple, appropriately enough, and the geode formations that made up the majority of the room's walls were very pretty to look at. But no matter what, Stevonnie's thoughts always returned to the piles and piles of items that Amethyst had collected over the years.

"Through here." Garnet indicated at two particularly close piles. "They should be just beyond here." Garnet carefully slipped past the two piles and Stevonnie followed her. On the other side was a rare clearing with only a smattering of items around and most looked like they were mechanical or electronic in nature. At the center of the clearing stood the pyramid, and around it were Pearl, Amethyst, and Peridot.

"Hey, guys!" Stevonnie greeted as the pair approached. They eyed the pyramid, trying to find evidence of Peridot tinkering with it. However, for the most part, the pyramid looked exactly the same as it had in the archival room. The only real difference was that now, there were several cables running from the base of the pyramid and were hooked up to, what looked like the generator Connie's father had, in case of emergencies.

"Hey, DT!" Amethyst returned, as she ran over to meet them. "How do you like my room?"

"It's pretty much all that I expected." Stevonnie replied. "Also, DT?"

"Yeah, Double Trouble, of course." Amethyst said, poking Stevonnie just above their gem. "Ya got Steven and Connie in there, right? That sounds like Double Trouble to me."

"Honestly, Amethyst." Pearl said as she joined them. "I don't understand why you can't just call people and things by their proper names."

Amethyst shrugged. "Well, sometimes I can think up better names."

"You're the one who names Stevonnie in the first place!" Pearl retorted.

"Oh, yeah. You're right." She thought for a moment. "Eh, I still prefer DT."

Pearl said nothing in response, only grumbling under her breath.

"Well, I like your nickname, Amethyst." Stevonnie said.

"Ha! See Pearl?" Amethyst asked. "Some people can appreciate my genius."

Pearl was about to respond, but Stevonnie cut them off by calling over to Peridot, "Hey, Peridot! Why don't you come over?"

Peridot gave no response at first, only continuing to poke and prod at the pyramid, but after awhile she turned from her task and said simply, "It's ready."

Stevonnie could hardly believe their ears. "Really?" they asked as they walked over to the green Gem. "It's ready to diffuse me?"

"Of course." Peridot replied, with more than a hint of smugness. "This pyramid is ancient tech, taking it apart and putting it back together is about as simple as maintenance on a class 4 power provider."

Stevonnie only responded with a blank look.

"That's… that's a really easy task to do." the slightly irked Gem explained.

"Right, right. I figured… Sooo… the pyramid's ready?"

"It is." Peridot answered. "Despite some of the… workarounds I had to use, it should be ready. All you have to do is get inside and I'll handle the rest."

Stevonnie nodded as they briskly walked over to where Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl still stood. "Did you hear?" they asked.

"We did." Garnet responded simply. "It's time to put an end to today's activities."

"Yeah. I guess it is." Stevonnie said. "Listen, guys, I know this whole thing wasn't planned or anything. But it was still really good to see you three again."

"Aw, shucks." Amethyst said, blushing just slightly. "It was good to see you too, Stevonnie."

Pearl smiled warmly. "It was. And it says a lot that you mean that, despite the day's circumstances."

Garnet smiled as well, however, her smile had a hint of pride in it. "You were a great experience today, Stevonnie. You should be proud."

Stevonnie found that they couldn't say anything in response, so taken aback by the Gems comments. But after a few moments, Peridot's voice called out, "Hey! Are you ready or not? This power provider won't last forever!"

Stevonnie turned back towards Peridot. "Alright, I'm coming." They jogged back to the pyramid, turned back as they did to wave one last goodbye to the Gems, who all waved back. Once at the pyramid, Peridot opened the door. Stevonnie found they now had to crouch down in order to get into the machine. As they entered, they turned towards Peridot and said, "It was good to meet you, Peridot. I hope we get to see each other again."

Peridot looked embarrassed by the farewell. "Of course." she said awkwardly. "I'm sure we'll be able to meet again, next time you fuse."

Stevonnie said nothing else, only continuing all the way into the pyramid. Once they were in, Peridot shut the door behind and the eerily familiar silence fell upon them. They sat in the middle of the pyramid waiting. As before, the blue tint of the pyramid made it difficult to tell what was going on out of it. Stevonnie thought they could see Peridot over by the electric generator when a humming sound began to fill the enclosed space. The fusion looked up and saw light beginning to gather above them. It was happening. The pyramid was activated. The light began to grow in intensity as Stevonnie tried to brace themselves as best they could. They thoughts were lingering on the day's events and how everything went so much better than their frantic awakening would seem to foretell and-

Light flashed, engulfing them.

For a long time, they felt nothing.

And then, everything.

Connie was sitting against the cool pyramid wall. Her ears were ringing and she felt like she had, until very recently, been spinning around in circles.

"Connie? Are you okay?" a voice called out to her.

"Yeah, I think so Steven." Connie answered as she slowly opened her eyes. At first, everything was a blueish blur, but slowly, focus returned to the world. She raised her head to face her friend when she received a sight she was not quite ready for. "Steven!" she cried out. "You don't have any clothes?!"

Steven said nothing in return at first, only confusedly looking down at himself. However, he saw, or didn't see what Connie had. In the diffusion, Connie had received the shirt and pants Stevonnie had been wearing, leaving poor Steven with nothing but his underwear. Upon realizing all this, Steven crossed his arms and drew his legs in closer against himself, as his face reddened with embarrassment. "Oh, man…" he moaned to himself.

Suddenly, the pyramid door began to open. Connie drew the several sizes too big shirt closer to her.

"Hey, you two." Amethyst said, seemingly unaffected by the two's lack of appropriate clothing. "You'll need these." She tossed in the plastic bag containing the pairs clothes. The Gem then left and shut the door behind her. For a moment, neither of them said anything or made any kind of movement.

"Here." Connie said finally as she pushed the bag over to Steven with her foot. "Why don't you change first."

"Alright." Steven said, still looking very uncomfortable. "But you have to close your eyes while I do."

"Okay, Steven." She covered her eyes with her hands. "How's this?"

"That's good." Steven replied. Connie could then hear him beginning to rustle around in the bag. After a few minutes of silent dressing, Steven said, "Alright, Connie. You can open your eyes now."

Connie did, and she saw Steven, now dressed as he usually was, sans sandals. Connie gave a small smile. "Back to normal now, huh?"

Steven smiled back and nodded. "Yeah." He turned around and banged on the pyramid door. "I'll close the door behind me so you can dress in privacy… Or kinda privacy… I'll tell the Gems not to look over here."

Connie couldn't help but feel a warmth rush over her face. "Thanks, Steven."

The pyramid door opened, though by who, Connie couldn't tell. Steven went through the doorway and shut it behind him. Once the blue blur that Connie knew was Steven had gone over to join the other blue blurs that Connie assumed were the Gems, she reached over and grabbed the bag. She removed her purple training outfit and, with just a slight hesitation, removed the 'Universal Experience' shirt and jean shorts and quickly dresses back into her clothes, though like Steven, sans shoes. She then put Stevonnie's clothes into the plastic bag and took it with her as she knocked on the pyramid's door. A blue blur outside the pyramid rushed over to her and opened the door.

"M'lady." Steven said as he opened it and made an over the top bow.

"Why, thank you, sir." Connie giggled as she stepped out of the pyramid. The pair then mozied over to the waiting Gems, all of whom had varying sizes of smiles on their faces.

"Well, Connie." Pearl said. "It's good to see your back."

"How do you feel?" Garnet asked, without waiting for Connie to respond to Pearl.

"Umm… Not bad, I guess." she answered. "I'm a little woozy."

"That's to be expected." Garnet replied. "You two were fused much longer than you ever had been before. A little disorientation is to be expected."

"Yeah, plus we needed some outside help pulling you two apart." Amethyst added.

"Oh, yeah." Steven said as if he suddenly recalled something. "Thanks for the help with the pyramid, Peridot."

Peridot said nothing, only turning away, unsure how to handle all this praise she had gotten lately.

However, it was now Connie's turn to make a realization. "Oh no!" she cried. "What time is it?!"

"Err… night?" Amethyst offered.

"My parents probably expected me home by now." Connie held the sides of her head in a rising panic. "If I don't get home soon…"

"It's okay, Connie." Steven said comfortingly. "We can ride Lion back to your house."

Connie felt calmer with this idea. "Yeah, okay. Lion would be able to get me home in a matter of seconds." She paused before continuing, "Alright, well let's go now, Steven. The sooner I get home, the less likely my parents are to ground me, or something."

"Alright, you two." Garnet said. "Steven, you take Connie. But I want you to come right back as soon as you do."

"I will, I will…" he grumbled. "That only happened once…"

"All it takes is once." Garnet replied, smirking.

"Here, I'll take those." Pearl said as she relieved Connie of the clothes Stevonnie had been wearing. "I'll make sure these are washed and ready to go for when Stevonnie decides to visit again."

"Thanks, Pearl." Steven said as he began to part with the group. "Come on, Connie. Let's get you home."

Connie started following her friend as she turned back and waved at the Gems, who all waved back.

"We'll see you, later Connie." Garnet called after them.

"Have a safe evening, now." Pearl added.

"Hope your parents go easy on you!" Amethyst wished after them.

Connie turned around one more time, "Thanks, everyone! I'll see you later!" And with that, the Gems disappeared behind the piles of Amethyst's stuff as both she and Steven made their way to the room's exit.


All at once, Connie's house and the surrounding houses shot into view. Steven held tightly onto Lion so as not to be knocked off while teleporting, like he had been in the past.

"Good Lion." Steven encouraged once they had come to a stop. He patted his pet lion on the head, however, Lion seemed nonplussed by the praise. Steven and Connie slid off of their mount as Steven said, "Well, here we are."

"Yup." Connie responded as she brushed a few stray hairs out of her face. Silence hung in the air as neither seemed to know what to say.

Finally, Steven broke it, "Connie?" he asked. "Did… did you really have fun today?"

Connie seemed surprised at his question, but still answered quickly, "Of course I did, Steven." She took a step closer to him. "Today was great, despite how it started." She smiled sincerely and Steven returned the same.

"Alright, good." Steven said. "I'm glad."

"Well, I better get inside. I'm already late and I know my Mom is going to let me have it." She paused. I'll see you…" she trailed off before suddenly lunging at Steven and wrapping him in a tight hug. After being momentarily surprised, Steven returned his friends embrace. After a minute, they parted and, after a just slightly awkward good-bye, Connie left, entering her house.

Steven remounted Lion, and with just a word of instruction, Lion roared and suddenly, they were both back at the beach in front of the temple. Steven slid off of Lion for the last time tonight and, after bidding his animal buddy a good-night, climbed the stairs to the house and entered through the door. The house was empty again, with none of the Gems around. But Steven wasn't really too concerned. It had been a long day and he was tired. He climbed the stairs to his loft and changed into his pajamas. He then crawled into bed and lied there for a moment, thinking about the day that had passed. As he contemplated, he felt a slight twinge in his stomach, where his gem was. It didn't hurt really, it was just uncomfortable. He scrunched his face before rolling over onto his side and, after a few minutes, the twinge disappeared and Steven slowly drifted off to sleep.